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Freeform
Freeform, previously known as ABC Family, is a cable network owned by Disney ABC Cable Networks, featuring programming aimed at teenagers and young adults, as well as families during its Funday Weekend block and specials such as the 25 Days Until Christmas special. It was originally founded in 1977 as The CBN Cable Network by Evangelical Minister, Pat Robertson, as an extension to his television ministry. Over time, the network started airing less and less “religious” programming and started to air family-focused programming. To reflect this major change in format and purpose, the channel changed its name to The Family Channel in 1988. By the year 1990, CBN spun off the network because it had become too profitable for the ministry. In 1997, News Corporation, owners of the Fox television network, and Saban Entertainment decided to buy the network and changed the name of the network to Fox Family Channel the next year. In 2002, ABC bought the channel and gave it the name ABC Family. Now, it’s rebranded under its current name, Freeform, on January 12, 2016, focusing on teens and young adults where it has experienced the most success Shows This is a list of television programs aired on Freeform: Current Drama * The Fosters (2013-present) * Stitchers (2015-present) * Shadowhunters (2016-present) * Beyond (2017-present) * Famous in Love (2017-present) * The Bold Type (2017-present) Comedy * Young & Hungry (2014-present) Reality * Cheer Squad (2016-present) * The Letter (2016-present) * The Twins: Happily Ever After? (2017-present) * Truth & Iliza (2017-present) Upcoming * Marvel's Cloak and Dagger (2018) * Siren (March 29, 2018) * Alone Together (January 10, 2018) * Marvel's New Warriors (2018) * Grown-ish (January 3, 2018) Criticism Since Freeform is a semi-religious and semi-family-oriented network it has often been criticized for its variety of programming. Many shows on ABC Family have episodes that either deal with teen-drinking (Boy Meets World and Still Standing) or teenage pregnancy (The Secret Life of the American Teenager). Freeform encourages concerned parents to control what their children watch. In fact, Freeform will always put up a Disclaimer on TV-14 programs and movies with disturbing images such as The Sixth Sense. During its time as ABC Family, Disney was considering changing the channel's name to ''XYZ ''to reflect the programming changes. It was long rumored that it could not due to an agreement with Robertson that "Family" should always remain the channel's name. ABC Family president Tom Ascheim debunked this rumor, however, when announcing the channel's rebrand Freeform in October 2015. Rebrand as Freeform In a December 3, 2014 article in Variety, reports suggested that ABC Family executives were proposing a reboot of the network that would occur in 2015 at the earliest, which included a renaming of the channel, a redesigned graphics package (replacing the one in use since 2006) or an expansion of programming that appeals more toward a millennial-skewing audience – as opposed to families or teenagers – among the options. During the channel's 2015–2016 upfront presentation on April 14, 2015, ABC Family executives announced that it would establish a focus on teenagers and young adults between the ages of 14 and 34 – group representatives termed "becomers", instead of the standard "millennials". On October 6, 2015, Disney–ABC Television Group announced that ABC Family would change its name to Freeform on January 1, 2016, with the rebrand – which kicked off with an extensive branding campaign launched on that date of the announcement and will encompass the network's popular "13 Nights of Halloween" and 25 Days of Christmas" blocks – coinciding with the winter premieres of the network's new and existing original series. Public assumption was that such a name change would be negotiably impossible due to an alleged stipulation enforced by CBN in sale agreements since the initial acquisition by International Family Entertainment that the channel contains the word "Family" in the name permanently, regardless as to who owns the network (as proven by the failed relaunch as XYZ); in the name change announcement, network president Tom Ascheim never made reference to the "Family" brand clause supposedly contained within the sale agreement, leaving it unclear as to whether or not the clause actually existed. The name change – which was chosen among 3,000 proposals, with some initial consideration of retaining the "ABC" name – was necessitated due to audience testing sampling regular viewers of the channel and those who watched ABC Family on an infrequent basis, which revealed that although regular viewers understood the network's youth-skewing concept, non-viewers perceived the channel as being more family-oriented. The channel plans to double the amount of original programming on its schedule through 2020; however, despite firmly focusing on its specified target audience, Freeform will also continue to carry much of the existing programming under the ABC Family brand including family-oriented series and feature films, the 25 Days of Christmas and 13 Nights of Halloween blocks, and its weekday airings of The 700 Club. Category:TV Channels Category:Freeform Category:Marvel Comics Category:Cloak and Dagger Category:ABC